the best sources of Vitamin E. This is the fertility vitamin( it was discovered by Prof. Herbert Evans of the University of California), helping the body use oxygen, which increase physical endurance and stamina and improves heart response. Tests and research by professors of science show that dried Water cress contains three times as much Vitamin E as do dried lettuce leaves.( Researches Mendel and Vickery worked with Dr. Karl E. Mason, of Vanderbilt University, U. S. A.) Dose: Infusion of the fresh or dried herb, 1 teaspoonful to 1 cupful of boiling water then steeped. Drink 3 – 4 cupfuls daily. Be sure to wash Water cress carefully if there is possible drainage from farmyards. Also be cautious of polluted water.
WATER CRESS Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.( U. S. Agricultural Department, Appalachia, 1971)
WATER
PEPPER Polygonum punctatum, Ell.( N. O.: Polygonaceae)
Common Names: Smart Weed, American Water Smart Weed, Arsesmart, Pepperwort. Features: This annual plant is a member of the buckwheat family growing in England and America in ditches, low lands, among rubbish and around brooks and water courses.
The herb has a smooth stem, 1 – 2 ft., with a reddish- or greenish-brown colour, of the often decumbent base. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, petiolate, with dots of thin skin throughout the leaves. The small greenish-white or greenish-pink flowers are loose, slender and drooping with erect spikes. It flowers in August and September. The taste is bitter, pungent and acrid. Water pepper should be collected and made into tincture or tea while fresh, as age decreases its properties and results. Medicinal Part: The whole herb. Solvents: Alcohol, water. Bodily Influence: Antiseptic, Diuretic, Diaphoretic, Emmenagogue. Uses: The infusion in cold water has been found serviceable in gravel, colds and coughs and in milk sickness. For the pain of suppressed menstruation, taken internally and fomentations wrung from the hot tea and applied to the lower back, where there is usually pain, will soon bring relief. Of use in female obstruction as a feminine douche when in pain, itching or leucorrhoea. In cholera, if the patient is wrapped in a sheet moistened with a hot decoction it will aid recovery; also taken internally but making sure the bowels are active. The infusion in cold water forms an excellent local application in the sore mouth of nursing mothers and in mercurial salivation. Dose: 1 teaspoonful of the herb, cut small, to 1 cupful of warm water; taken in wineglassful, or teacupful, amounts. The decoction or infusion in hot water is not so active as when prepared in cold